12Fish and shellfish

Fish and shellfish spoil fast, many of them cost a great deal, and almost all of them cook in less time than meat or poultry. Their flavors are also gentler. So a cook has to buy them carefully, keep them cold, and stop the cooking at the right moment.

The seafood used in a professional kitchen falls into three groups: fish, mollusks and crustaceans. Fish have fins and a skeleton inside the body. Mollusks have soft bodies and, in most cases, a hard shell. Crustaceans wear their skeleton on the outside, as a shell, and have jointed legs.

12.1 Round fish and flat fish

Salmon recipes → Cod recipes → Tuna recipes → Other fish recipes →

What fish flesh is like

A fish is an animal with a backbone that lives in water, swims with fins and breathes through gills. More than 30,000 species are known. Most of them live in the sea; far fewer live in fresh water.

Fish muscle is built from short fibers held together by thin, delicate sheets of connective tissue. That is why fish is tender before it is cooked. Cooking fish is not about making it tender. Its jobs are to firm up the protein and bring out the flavor.

Fish flesh is pale because it lacks myoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red meat. Salmon and some trout are orange only because of pigments in their diet.

Fish carry far less fat between their muscles than meat does, but the fat they have changes how they cook. Cooks sort fish into two kinds:

• Fatty or oily fish, such as salmon and mackerel, hold a fairly large amount of fat.
• Lean fish, such as cod and haddock, hold very little. Shellfish are lean as well.

Keep this split in mind: it helps decide how each fish is best cooked.

Two body shapes

Fish are grouped by the shape of the body and the bones.

• Round fish swim upright, with one eye on each side of the head. The body can be round, oval or squeezed flat from side to side.
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• Flat fish swim lying on one side, and both eyes sit on the upper side of the head. They live on the sea floor, most of them in deep water. The upper skin is dark, and can change color to hide the fish from hunters. The scales are small, and the fins on the back and underside run the whole length of the body.
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Names that mislead

Telling one fish from another is hard, for several reasons:

• Many species in a family look alike.
• One fish may have several local names.
• One name may mean different fish in different places.
• A fish with an unappealing name is sometimes sold under a nicer one, or under the name of a more popular fish.
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• Menus also use foreign names.

In the United States, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) publishes a list of accepted market names for fish, called The Seafood List. Sellers are strongly urged to follow it, but the rule is hard to enforce.

Salmon

Salmon live in the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and swim back up the rivers where they hatched to spawn. The pink-red color of the flesh comes from carotenoids, fat-soluble pigments in the crustaceans salmon feed on. Cooked salmon breaks into large flakes.

• Atlantic salmon is the most important salmon in trade: about a quarter of all salmon produced. Nearly all of it is farmed, in Norway, Canada and Scotland; wild Atlantic salmon is almost never for sale. The flesh is rich pink and moist, and the fish average 4 to 12 lb (1.8 to 5.4 kg). The place it comes from is often part of the name, as in Scottish Atlantic salmon.
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• Chinook or king salmon come from the Pacific. They average 5 to 30 lb (2.2 to 13.2 kg). The flesh is red-orange, fatty and rich in flavor. They are often named for the river they come from, and the inside of the mouth is black.
• Coho or silver salmon have pinkish flesh. Wild coho weigh 3 to 12 lb (1.3 to 5.4 kg); farmed coho are much smaller, usually under 1 lb (450 g).
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• Chum, sockeye, red, blueback and pink salmon mostly go into cans, though some are sold fresh or frozen.

Salmon can be broiled, grilled, poached, steamed or baked. Frying is not advised, because the fish is already so fatty. Salmon is also cured. Gravlax is salmon packed in salt, sugar and dill for one to three days. Lox is cured in a salted brine and then, usually, cold-smoked. In the eastern United States, Nova means a cold-smoked salmon that is less salty.

Trout belong to the salmon family. Most trout for sale are farmed rainbow trout. Their fat is low to moderate, their texture flaky, and their flavor so delicate that a strong sauce can bury it. At 8 to 10 oz (225 to 280 g), one trout makes one portion. Bake, pan-fry, smoke or steam it. Lake trout, also called char, are too fatty to have much value in trade.

Cod

The cod family takes in Atlantic and Pacific cod, pollock, haddock, whiting and hake. Cod is lean, white and firm, with a mild flavor, and it flakes apart easily. Most methods suit it. Grilling does not, because the flakes fall apart on the grate.

• Atlantic cod sells better than any other fish in America. It comes fresh (whole, drawn, or as fillets and steaks), frozen (often as breaded sticks or portions), smoked, and dried and salted. Cod can reach 200 pounds (90 kilograms), but most at market weigh 10 lb (4.4 kg) or less. Scrod is a trade name for cod or haddock under 2 lb (1.1 kg) or under 20 inches (50 cm) long.
• Haddock look like small, slim Atlantic cod, at about 2 to 5 lb (900 g to 2.3 kg). The taste is stronger and the texture softer than Atlantic cod.
• Pacific cod, or gray cod, is less plentiful and is usually sold frozen. It should be labeled "true cod" so no one confuses it with rock cod or black cod, which are not related.
• Pollock is plentiful in the northern Atlantic and Pacific. Its raw flesh is gray-pink and turns white when cooked. Much of it is frozen at sea and later made into surimi; it is also salted or smoked.

Tuna

Tuna include bluefin, yellowfin, bonito, bigeye and blackfin. Ahi is a market name for yellowfin or bigeye. All are part of the mackerel family, all live in warm seas, and a single fish can weigh several hundred pounds. Bluefin is the finest for sashimi, and overfishing has made it scarce. Canned light tuna is usually yellowfin or skipjack; canned white tuna is albacore, also called longfin. Pacific tuna frozen at sea is called clipper fish.

Tuna reaches market as four boneless loins. These are cut down into steaks, cubes or chunks. Raw tuna is deep red, with low to moderate fat; fattier flesh is preferred for sashimi. A strip of dark, red-brown, very fatty muscle runs along the side of the fish, and it can be cut away. Cooked tuna turns light gray, firm and mild. It grills and broils well, with a marinade or a brushing of seasoned oil. Cooks often serve it medium rare so it does not dry out.

Other round fish

Flesh, market sizes and good methods for other round fish. A dash means no figure is given.

A few warnings travel with these fish:

• Mako shark is sometimes passed off as swordfish.
• A shark that smells of ammonia was badly handled when it was caught; do not buy it or eat it.
• Red-skinned rockfish are often wrongly sold as red snapper, so snapper fillets keep their skin on to show what they are.
• Tilapia is sometimes sold as cherry or sunshine snapper, though it is no snapper at all.

Flat fish

Flounder is lean and firm, pearly or pinkish white, sweet and mild. Most have the head and guts removed on the boat, and reach market as fillets, fresh or frozen. These fillets are very thin. They dry out and spoil easily, so handle and store them with care. Cook them in ways that keep moisture in: poaching, steaming and frying.

Sole is a name with a good reputation, so it is put on many fish that are not true sole. The FDA allows many flat fish to be sold as sole in the United States, yet no true sole is caught in American waters: any American "sole" is a flounder.

• English sole are flounder from the American West Coast, often sold simply as fillet of sole. Plentiful, fair to average in quality.
• Petrale sole, another West Coast flounder, is thought the best of the American soles. Its fillets are thicker and firmer than most.
• Domestic Dover sole, a Pacific flounder, is less delicate and less tasty than the others. A parasite often leaves its flesh slimy and jelly-like, so choose another sole or flounder when you can.
• Lemon sole, also called black back or winter flounder, is the most plentiful and popular flounder on the East Coast. It averages 2 pounds (900 grams).
• True Dover sole belongs to the family Soleidae and comes only from the waters off England, Europe and Africa. It is lean, pearly white and delicate, yet it stands up to many sauces and seasonings. It is a classic of fine cooking, imported whole or as fillets.

Halibut are among the biggest flat fish, often up to 300 pounds. Only two species are recognized in the United States: Atlantic and Pacific halibut. Both are lean, firm and snow white, and sweet and mild in flavor. California halibut is really a flounder and averages 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms). Halibut is cut into boneless steaks or cubes for skewers. It dries out easily. Poach, bake, grill or broil it, and serve it with a sauce.

Turbot caught in the Pacific is an ordinary fish. The European turbot is another matter: a large, diamond-shaped flat fish, valued for its firm white flesh and delicate flavor, and also sold as brill.

12.2 Grading, nutrition and storage

Why fish is good food

Fish and shellfish carry few calories and little fat or sodium. They are high in protein and in vitamins A, B and D, and they supply minerals:

• calcium, above all in canned fish whose bones are eaten;
• phosphorus;
• potassium;
• iron, which mollusks are especially rich in.

Fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a group of polyunsaturated fats that may help against high blood cholesterol and some heart disease. Shellfish carry less cholesterol than people once believed. Crustaceans hold more than mollusks, but both hold far less than red meat or eggs.

The usual ways of cooking fish help too. Broiling, grilling, poaching and steaming add little fat, or none.

Inspection and grades in the United States

In the United States, meat and poultry must be inspected by law, but fish and shellfish inspection is voluntary. The seller pays for it, and the Department of Commerce (USDC) runs it. There are three types:

• Type 1 covers the whole process, from raw fish to finished product, in the plant. Products inspected this way may carry the mark "Packed under Federal Inspection" (PUFI). It means the product is safe, wholesome, correctly labeled, of reasonably good flavor and smell, and made in an official plant.
• Type 2 checks one lot of product in a warehouse, plant or cold store against the buyer's specification: condition, weight, labeling and packaging.
• Type 3 checks sanitation only. Boats and plants that pass go on a published USDC list of approved establishments.

Only fish inspected under Type 1 can be graded, and grading standards exist only for the most common kinds. Grade A is top quality: good flavor and smell, and almost no blemishes. Most fish served in restaurants is Grade A. Grade B is good quality and Grade C fairly good; both mostly end up canned or processed.

Checking freshness yourself

An inspection stamp does not promise good fish. A few hours too warm, or two days in the refrigerator, can ruin it. So check freshness when you buy, and check again just before you cook.

• Smell. The easiest test. Fresh fish smells faintly of the sea, or of nothing. Any off smell, or a smell of ammonia, means the fish is old or was handled badly.
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• Eyes. Clear and full. Sunken eyes mean the fish is drying out.
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• Gills. Whole and bright red. Brown gills mean age.
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• Texture. Firm flesh that springs back when you press it. Soft, mushy flesh that stays dented is old or poor.
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• Fins and scales. Moist and full. Dry ones mean age; torn ones mean rough handling.
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• Cut surfaces. Moist and shiny, with no bruises, dark spots, or brown, dry edges.
• Movement. Buy shellfish alive. Lobsters and crabs should be lively. An open clam, mussel or oyster should close when you tap it; if it does not, it is dead, so throw it out. Geoduck, razor and steamer clams are the exception, because the siphon sticks out and stops the shell from closing. Avoid mollusks with broken shells, or shells so heavy they may be full of mud or sand.
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Market forms

Wholesalers sell fish in several market forms.

Market forms of fish.

Labels also say how the fish was kept:

• Fresh: never frozen.
• Chilled: kept refrigerated, at −1°C to 1°C (30°F to 34°F). Some sellers use it in place of "fresh", which can be vague.
• Flash-frozen: frozen fast, on the boat or at a plant, within hours of the catch. Fresh-frozen is frozen while fresh, but less quickly.
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• Frozen: held at 0°F (−18°C) or colder.
• Glazed: frozen, then dipped in water so a coat of ice guards it against freezer burn.
• Fancy: a trade code that means the fish was frozen before.

Buying shellfish by count

Shellfish are sold live in the shell, shucked (taken out of the shell) or processed. Live and shucked shellfish are usually sold by count, the number of pieces in a unit. The unit depends on the shellfish:

• Standard live Eastern oysters come 200 to 250 to the bushel.
• Shucked Eastern oyster meat comes 350 to the gallon.
• Shrimp and crab legs are often sold by the number per pound.
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• Whole crabs are graded by size.
• Lobsters are sold by weight.

Cutting fish in your own kitchen

Before buying whole fish to cut up yourself, ask four questions:

• Can the kitchen use the bones and trimmings?
• Can the staff cut fillets, steaks and portions well?
• Is there room to store whole fish?
• What is the fish for?

For holding, cutting with and sharpening a knife, see chapter 4: Knife work.

Scaling. Scale any fish that will be cooked with its skin on.

• Hold the fish by the tail and scrape from tail to head with a fish scaler, or with the back of a knife, gently, so you do not bruise the flesh.
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• Turn it over and do the other side.
• Rinse it in cool water.

Pan-dressing a flat fish. Work in this order:

• Cut the head off with a V-shaped cut, and pull it away with the guts.
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• Rinse the cavity clean of blood.
• Snip off the tail and fins with kitchen shears.
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Filleting a round fish. A round fish is filleted from the head end:

• Cut behind the gills down to the backbone, leaving the head on.
• Turn the knife toward the tail and cut along the backbone in long, smooth strokes. Keep the blade against the bone so no flesh is wasted; you will feel it pass through the small pin bones.
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• Free the fillet, turn the fish, and do the other side.
• Trim the rib bones off each fillet with a flexible boning knife.
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Filleting a flat fish. A flat fish gives four fillets: two large ones from the top and two smaller ones from the bottom. Scale first if the skin stays on, since scaling is easier on a whole fish; skip it if the skin comes off.

• Lay the fish dark side up and run the tip of a flexible boning knife down the backbone from head to tail.
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• Slide the blade between the flesh and the ribs, keeping it on the bone, and lift off each fillet.
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• Turn the fish and repeat.
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Skinning. Dover sole is the one flat fish whose skin pulls off whole: cut across the skin just in front of the tail, grip it with a towel, and pull it toward the head. Flounder, petrale and other soles are too delicate for that; fillet them first. To skin any fillet, lay it skin side down, start at the tail, and slide a knife between flesh and skin with a sawing motion, the blade angled down toward the skin while you hold the skin tight.

Pin bones. A round fish fillet has a line of small bones inside the flesh along its length. They are usually cut out. In salmon, pull them one by one with salmon tweezers or needle-nose pliers, finding each with your fingertips, starting at the head end.

Storing fresh fish

Temperature matters more than anything else in keeping fish. All cold food is kept at 4°C (40°F) or colder. Fresh seafood needs more: pack it in ice, keep it at −1°C to 2°C, and use it as soon as you can. Fish kept at 41°F (5°C) lasts about half as long as fish kept at 32°F (0°C).

Fish usually arrives packed in ice. Get it onto ice in the refrigerator quickly:

• Bury whole fish in shaved or crushed ice, in a perforated pan so the meltwater drains away. With only cubed ice, put the cubes in plastic bags and set them gently on the fish so they do not dent or bruise it.
• Wrap cut and portioned fish in moisture-proof packaging before icing, so water does not spoil the cut flesh.
• Set fillets in plastic trays, fresh scallops, and shucked oysters and clams on ice or pack ice around them, but never let the ice touch the flesh.
• Drain and re-ice the fish every day.
• Store raw seafood on the lower shelves, below anything cooked or ready to eat.
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Keeping shellfish alive

Live clams, mussels and oysters stay in the boxes or net bags they came in, in high humidity. Never seal them in plastic bags, and never ice them. Kept well, they stay alive for up to a week. Like all food in cold storage, they are kept at 4°C (40°F) or colder.

Without a saltwater tank, keep live lobsters, crabs and other crustaceans in boxes with seaweed or damp newspaper. Most of them pass salt water over their gills, so ice or fresh water kills them. Kept well, lobsters and crabs live for several days.

Frozen fish

Frozen food is stored at −18°C (0°F) or colder, and fish kept colder still lasts much longer. If the freezer warms past −18°C, food loses color and vitamins, and cooling it again does not undo that. Wrap fish well, or freezer burn will dry out its surface, and use the oldest stock first.

Thaw frozen fish in the refrigerator. Once it has thawed, treat it as fresh fish.

Knowing when fish is done

One long-standing guide allows 10 minutes for each inch (2.5 centimeters) of thickness, whatever the method. That is a fair rule of thumb, but in a professional kitchen it is better to judge by the fish itself:

• It turns opaque. Raw fish looks a little see-through. As its proteins set, it turns solid in color.
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• It firms up. Press it with a finger. Raw fish is soft; cooked fish pushes back and springs up quickly.
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• It comes off the bone. Raw flesh clings to the bones; cooked flesh lifts away easily.
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• It starts to flake. As the thin connective tissue breaks down, the bundles of muscle fiber begin to part. Fish is done when it just begins to flake; fish that flakes easily is overdone and dry.
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The food safety test is different: cook fish until it flakes easily. There is a temperature too. Fish must reach 70°C (158°F) inside, and mixed dishes containing fish 74°C (165°F), held there for 15 seconds or more. Check with a thermometer rather than trusting the clock.

Fish keeps cooking for a short time after it leaves the heat. This is carryover cooking. see chapter 8: Carryover cooking So take fish off the heat a little early and let the stored heat finish it.

12.3 Shellfish

Shrimp recipes → Crab recipes → Lobster recipes → Clams recipes → Scallops recipes → Squid recipes →

Mollusks and crustaceans

Mollusks have soft bodies in one piece, with no skeleton inside. Most wear a hard shell. Those with one shell, such as abalone, are univalves. Those with two shells joined by a hinge, such as clams, oysters and mussels, are bivalves. Squid and octopus are cephalopods: they have no outer shell, only a thin one inside called a pen or cuttlebone.

Crustaceans have a hard outer shell and legs with joints, and they breathe through gills. Lobsters, crabs and shrimp are crustaceans. They live in both salt and fresh water.

Like fish, most shellfish are tender before cooking and very lean.

Univalves

Univalves are sea snails. Each has one shell and one muscular foot that holds it to rocks.

• Abalone has a brownish-gray shell shaped like an ear. It is harvested in California, where the law forbids canning it or shipping it out of the state; frozen abalone comes from Mexico and canned from Japan. The meat is lean, sweet and delicate, like clam, but too tough to eat until pounded with a mallet or rolling pin. Then it can be eaten raw or ceviche-style. Grill or sauté it with great care: overcooked, it turns very tough.
• Conch comes from warm water around the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. The meat is lean, smooth and very firm, sweet and smoky, and chewy. Slice and pound it, eat it raw with lime juice, or cook it slowly whole.
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• Snails, or escargots in French, live on land but are much like their sea cousins. Poach them in court bouillon, boil them out of the shell, or bake them briefly with a seasoned butter or sauce. Overcooked, they turn tough and chewy. The favorites are the big white Burgundy snail and the little petit gris. Most are sold canned, from France or Taiwan.
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Clams

Clams come from both American coasts, and the Atlantic clams matter more in trade. They are sold all year, live in the shell, freshly shucked, or canned (minced, chopped or whole).

Quahogs, the hard-shell clams, have blue-gray shells and chewy meat, less sweet than other clams. They go by size:

• Littlenecks, usually under 2 inches (5 centimeters) across, are the dearest clams. Serve them on the half shell or steamed.
• Cherrystones, usually under 3 inches (7.5 centimeters), are sometimes eaten raw but more often cooked.
• Top necks are usually cooked, often stuffed.
• Chowders, the largest, are always cooked, often minced for chowder or soup.

Soft-shell clams (Ipswich, steamer or long-necked clams) have thin shells that break easily and never quite close around the black-tipped siphon. Their meat is sweet and tender, most often steamed, sometimes fried. Surf clams live in deep water and grow to 8 inches (20 centimeters); they are cut into strips for frying or minced and canned.

Most Pacific clams are too tough to eat raw. The Manila clam, brought to the Pacific coast in the 1930s, looks like a ridged quahog and can be steamed or served on the half shell. The geoduck is the biggest Pacific clam, up to 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), with a large siphon; its rich body and briny taste are popular in Asian cooking.

Cockles, mussels and oysters

Cockles are small ridged bivalves about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. They are better known in Europe and go into paella and fish soups and stews.

Mussels are found all over the world. Steam them in wine or a seasoned broth, fry them, or add them to soups and pasta.

• Blue mussels are the most common. Wild ones come from the Atlantic coast, and they are farmed on both coasts. The meat is plump, sweet and firm. Farmed mussels have much more orange-yellow meat than wild ones, which makes them worth the higher price. They are sold live, 10 to 20 to the pound, and are best from winter harvests.
• Green-lip mussels come from Thailand and New Zealand. They are much bigger, 8 to 12 to the pound, with paler shells edged in bright green.

Oysters have rough gray shells and soft, gray, briny meat that can be eaten raw from the shell. Cooks also steam or bake them in the shell, or shuck them to fry, sauté, or add to stews and chowders. Most American oysters are farmed and sold live or shucked. Of the four domestic species (Atlantic, European flat, Olympia and Pacific), only the Atlantic and Pacific oysters matter in trade. Each is sold under dozens of place names, such as blue points or Kumamoto. An oyster takes its flavor from the minerals and salt of the water and mud where it grew, so two oysters of the same species from different places can taste very different.

Scallops

A scallop's edible part is the white muscle that holds its two fan-shaped shells shut. Scallops die quickly, so they are usually shucked and cleaned on the boat. The main kinds are the sea scallop, the largest at 20 to 30 to the pound; the bay scallop, 70 to 90 to the pound; and the calico scallop, 70 to 110. Most are sold shucked and cleaned, fresh or frozen.

Good raw scallops are ivory and slightly see-through, not perfectly round, and springy to the touch. They are sweet and tender. Steam, broil, grill, fry, sauté or bake them, but watch them: overcooked, they go chewy and dry fast. Serve them raw only when they are extremely fresh.

Squid and octopus

Cephalopods have a distinct head, well-made eyes, arms that grow from the head around the mouth, and a body sac with fins called the mantle.

Octopus is usually tough. It needs pounding or long, moist cooking before it is good to eat. Most is imported from Portugal. Its skin is gray raw and purple cooked; the flesh inside is white, lean, firm and full of flavor.

Squid, or calamari in Italian, is smaller than octopus. The East Coast loligo or winter squid is thought the best. Most squid run about 8 to 10 to the pound, but the giant South American squid is sold as tenderized steaks. You can eat the tentacles, the mantle (the body tube) and the fins. The meat is white to ivory, darkening with age, fairly lean, a little sweet, firm and tender. It toughens fast if overcooked. It is sold fresh, or frozen in blocks.

Crayfish and crab

Crayfish, called crawfish or crawdads in the American South, are freshwater animals that look like small lobsters, 3½ to 7 inches (8 to 17.5 cm) long. They are sold live or cooked and frozen. The sweet, lean meat is mostly in the tail. Boil them whole, or use the tail meat fried or in soups, bisques and sauces. They are central to Cajun gumbo, étouffée and jambalaya, and they turn bright red when cooked.

Crab is sold fresh, frozen and canned. Live crab should keep up to five days; never use a crab that has died.

• King crab is very large, usually around 10 pounds (4.4 kilograms), from the cold northern Pacific. Its meat is very sweet and snow white. It is always sold frozen, mostly in the shell as legs, claws or split legs.
• Dungeness crab comes from the West Coast and weighs 1½ to 4 lb (680 g to 1.8 kg). The meat is sweet and delicate. It is sold live, cooked and frozen, or as picked meat.
• Blue crab lives along the whole Atlantic coast and makes up about half the weight of all crab caught in the United States. The meat is rich and sweet. Hard-shell blue crabs are sold live, cooked and frozen, or picked. Soft-shell crabs are caught within six hours of shedding their shells, and are sold frozen, or live between May 15 and September 15. Steam them whole, sauté, fry or broil them, or add them to soups and stews.
• Snow crab, or spider crab, is plentiful and often stands in for the dearer king crab. It is sold cooked and usually frozen. The legs are often served cold as a starter.
• Stone crab is sold only as cooked claws, fresh or frozen, because raw claw meat sticks to the shell when frozen. Only the claw is taken; the crab goes back into the water and grows a new one in about 18 months. Claws weigh 2½ to 5½ ounces (75 to 155 grams), with firm, sweet meat. Serve them cracked, hot or cold.
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Lobster

Lobsters have brown to blue-black shells that turn red when cooked, and firm, white, rich, sweet meat. Cooks most often poach, steam, simmer, bake or grill them. Keep lobsters alive until just before you cook them. Never eat a lobster that died before cooking.

• Maine lobster, also called American or clawed lobster, has meat in both tail and claws and is thought the best-tasting lobster. It is usually sold live, by weight: for example 1¼, 1½ or 2 pounds each. A chix weighs under 1 pound (450 grams), a cull has only one claw, and a bullet has none.
• Spiny lobster has tiny claws and is valued only for its tail. In the United States it is sold almost entirely as frozen tails, often called rock lobster. Warm-water tails come from Florida, Brazil and the Caribbean; cold-water tails, thought better, come from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
• Slipper lobster, lobsterette and squat lobster have no claws and taste less good than Maine or spiny lobster. Langoustines are small North Atlantic lobsters.

Shrimp

Kitchens use dozens of kinds of shrimp, among them Gulf whites, pinks, browns and black tigers. Most shrimp have their heads removed and are frozen at sea. The commonest form is raw, headless, shell on, also called green headless. Shrimp also come peeled and deveined, raw or cooked, individually quick-frozen, breaded or canned.

Shrimp are graded by how many make a pound, from 400 down to 8 (extra-colossal). A box marked 21–26 count holds about 21 to 26 shrimp per pound. U-10 means under 10 per pound.

The word prawn is often used for any large shrimp. Scampi is Italian for the Dublin Bay prawn, which is really a small lobster; in the United States, though, scampi means shrimp sautéed in garlic butter.

Getting shellfish ready

Clams. Under cold running water, scrub every mollusk with a brush to get rid of mud and sand. A clam opens more easily if it rests in the refrigerator for at least an hour after washing. To open it:

• Hold the clam in a folded towel in your palm with the hinge notch toward your thumb.
• Use the fingers of that same hand to pull the clam knife in between the shells. Never push the handle with your other hand, or a slip will cut you.
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• Cut the muscle and twist the shells apart.
• Cut the muscle from the top shell, and break that shell off at the hinge.
• Free the clam from the bottom shell.
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Oysters. Open them in four steps:

• Brush the oyster clean under running water and hold it in a folded towel.
• Push the tip of an oyster knife into the hinge and twist to pop it, without driving the knife forward, since it can slip and stab you.
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• Slide the knife along the top shell to free the oyster, and throw that shell away.
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• Release the oyster from the bottom shell.
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Mussels. Mussels are not normally eaten raw. Scrub them under cold water and pull off the beard, the clump of dark threads, with your fingers or small pliers. Removing the beard can kill the mussel, so do it as close to cooking as you can.

Lobster for boiling or broiling. A whole lobster can go straight into boiling water or court bouillon. To broil it, split it first:

• Lay the lobster on its back and drive the tip of a chef's knife into the head.
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• In one stroke, cut down through the body and tail without cutting all the way through.
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• Crack the back so it lies flat, and break the claws with the back of the knife.
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• Remove the stomach. Save the tomalley (the olive-green liver) and any coral (the roe) for a sauce.
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Lobster for sautéing. Cut it up in this order:

• Pierce the head.
• Cut off the claws and arms.
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• Cut the tail into rounds.
• Split the head and body. The head and legs add flavor but hold little meat, so they are usually thrown away.
• Crack the claws.

Raw shellfish and safe sources

Buy shellfish only from approved suppliers. Shellfish from unapproved sellers may come from closed areas and carry heavy loads of germs or poisons. For the rules on suppliers, see chapter 2: Raw foods and suppliers.

12.4 Cooking fish and shellfish: dry heat

Dry heat cooks without adding any liquid. For fish and shellfish, the dry-heat methods are broiling and grilling, baking (the word cooks use for roasting fish), sautéing, pan-frying and deep-frying.

For how each method works, see chapter 8: Dry heat: sauté, grill, roast, fry.

One rule holds for all of them: cooked fish must reach 70°C (158°F) inside.

Broiling and grilling

Done well, broiled or grilled fish has a lightly charred, slightly smoky outside from the strong radiant heat, and a moist, juicy inside. Shellfish should come out moist and tender, only lightly colored.

Which fish. Nearly every fish and shellfish can be broiled or grilled.

• Oily fish suit the grill best: salmon, trout, swordfish and the like. So do firm lean fish such as bass and snapper.
• Delicate lean flat fish, such as flounder and sole fillets, are better broiled, on a broiling (sizzler) platter heated first. Tender fish like these go under the broiler presentation side up.
• Among shellfish: oysters and clams on the half shell with flavored butter or crumbs; squid stuffed and pinned with a toothpick; split lobsters, king crab, snow crab and large crab legs brushed with butter; shrimp and scallops in flavored butter or on skewers.

Getting it ready. Brush every fish lightly with oil or butter first. The fat stops sticking and helps lean fish stay moist. Salt and pepper is enough for most fish. A marinade of white wine and lemon juice suits most fish, but keep it short, because the flavor of fish is delicate. Leave out herbs, which burn in the fierce heat. Do not bury shellfish under strong flavors.

Method. Work in this order:

• Heat the broiler or grill, brush the grate clean, and wipe it with a lightly oiled towel.
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• Cut fish into steaks or tranches (slices cut from a fillet) of even thickness.
• Where the skin is on, slash it diagonally about ¼ inch (6 millimeters) deep at even spaces, so the fish does not curl and cooks evenly.
• On a grill, lay the fish presentation side down.
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• Do not overcook it, and serve it as hot as you can.

Lemon wedges are the classic partner. A rich butter sauce such as beurre blanc suits lean fish, and a vegetable coulis is the lighter choice.

Baking

Fatty fish bake best. Lean fish can be baked, but they dry out unless basted often. Fillets and steaks are the best forms: they cook quickly and evenly and are easy to portion.

Fish bakes so quickly that its surface has no time to brown. To get a browned outside, sear it first in a sauté pan with a little oil, then finish it in the oven.

Lay the portions presentation side up on a pan greased with oil or butter, season them, and brush them well with melted butter. Bake at about 400°F (200°C), basting now and then, and more often for lean fish. Take the fish out when it is a little underdone. Lemon, butter, salt and pepper are the usual seasonings, and baked fish leans on its sauce for flavor.

Shellfish are often stuffed before baking:

• Oysters Rockefeller are raw oysters on the half shell topped with spinach, watercress and an anise liqueur.
• Shrimp are butterflied and stuffed.
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• Lobsters are split and stuffed.
• Clams are chopped, mixed with crumbs and seasoning, and baked back in their shells.

Sautéing

Sautéing browns the surface lightly and adds flavor, and the fond left in the pan makes a quick sauce with garlic, onion, wine or lemon. see chapter 8: Cooking

Which fish. Fatty or lean, both work. Whole dressed flat fish and small round fish such as trout can be sautéed whole. Larger fish such as salmon are cut as steaks, or filleted and then cut into tranches. Keep the pieces even and fairly thin so they cook through evenly. Scallops and crustaceans sauté well; clams, mussels and oysters seldom are.

Heat. Delicate lean fillets such as sole and flounder are usually dredged in flour, plain or seasoned. Heat the pan and fat before the fish goes in, with enough fat to cover the bottom about ⅛ inch (3 millimeters) deep. Do not crowd the pan: too much fish cools it, and the fish simmers in its own juice instead of browning. Small, thin pieces cook in moments, so use high heat to brown them before they overcook. Large, thick pieces, or shellfish in the shell, need slightly lower heat so the outside does not get too dark. Put fish in presentation side down and turn it once.

Serve sautéed fish with a sauce made in the same pan. It can be as simple as beurre noisette (butter cooked until brown).

Pan-frying

Pan-frying uses more fat than sautéing, and the fish always wears a coat of flour, batter or breading. The coating seals the surface and keeps the flesh out of the fat. A good result is moist inside, crisp outside, with an unbroken coating.

Which fish. Fatty and lean fish both pan-fry well. Trout and other small fish are ideal, and so are portions of lean fish such as halibut. Keep pieces even and thin.

Heat. Add enough clarified butter or oil to come a third to halfway up the fish, and heat it to 325°F to 350°F (163°C to 177°C) before the fish goes in. Coated fillets cook very fast, so the fat must brown the coating before the inside overcooks. A whole fish takes longer, so use a little less heat to keep its outside from getting too dark. Turn once, drain on paper, and serve promptly.

Most of the flavor goes into the coating: cheese in a batter, nuts in a breading. Serve pan-fried fish with lemon, or a mayonnaise sauce such as tartar or remoulade made separately. Avoid rich wine sauces.

Deep-frying

Fish for the deep-fryer is usually breaded or battered, or made into croquettes or fritters. Done well, it is moist and tender inside, crisp and golden outside, and never greasy or tough. see chapter 8: A good deep-fried product

Which fish.

• Small whole fish, and thin, even fillets of a lean fish like catfish or halibut.
• Fatty fish such as salmon, made into croquettes.
• Peeled shrimp, and shucked clams and oysters, breaded, battered or in fritters.
• Sliced squid or octopus, breaded or battered, served with a dip as an hors d'oeuvre.

Heat. Fry at about 350°F (177°C), hot enough to cook the inside before the coating burns. Put seasoning into the breading or batter, but add salt only after frying. Judge doneness by color, timing or tasting. Drain the fish over the fryer, then on a rack or paper in a hotel pan.

Fried fish held for later service goes under a heat lamp. Food held hot must stay at 60°C (140°F) or hotter.

12.5 Cooking fish and shellfish: moist heat

Moist heat suits fish and shellfish very well. Steaming keeps their natural flavor best and needs no fat. Poaching is popular for fish, which can then be served hot or cold. And what is called boiling, mostly for crustaceans, is really simmering.

For how each method works, see chapter 9: Moist heat: poach, simmer, steam.

Cooked fish must reach 70°C (158°F) inside.

Steaming

Steamed fish sits above a little boiling liquid in a covered pan, and the trapped steam cooks it gently. That keeps its flavor and most of its nutrients. The liquid can be plain water, or a court bouillon whose herbs, spices, aromatics or wine flavor the fish as it cooks.

Which fish. Mollusks such as clams and mussels, fatty fish such as salmon or sea bass, and lean fish such as sole all steam well. Cut portions to an even thickness of no more than 1 inch (2.5 cm), so they cook evenly.

Shellfish in their own pot. Mussels and clams need no rack. Put them in a pan with a splash of wine and cover it; the shells hold them up out of the liquid. They seldom need salt, because the liquor they release as they open is salty enough. Classic New England steamed clams come with some of their steaming broth, and steamed mussels with a sauce made from the wine they cooked in.

En papillote. Fish and shellfish can be sealed in parchment with herbs, vegetables, butter or sauce and baked in a hot oven. see chapter 9: En papillote Serve it at once, so the scented steam escapes when the paper is cut open at the table.

Steamed fish should taste clean and delicate and stay moist. Season it lightly. If the liquid will be served as a broth or turned into a sauce, season that liquid well. A low-fat sauce or a squeeze of lemon with steamed vegetables keeps the dish light; where fat is not a worry, beurre blanc or hollandaise works.

Poaching

Fish is often poached; shellfish rarely are. Squid is the exception: poach it quickly, then chill it for salads.

Which fish. Lean white fish, such as sole, bass and turbot, poach very well. So do some fatty fish, such as trout and salmon.

Two ways to poach.

• Submersion. The fish is fully covered by liquid, usually court bouillon, fish stock or fish fumet, and cooked until just done. Whole fish (wrapped in cheesecloth to hold its shape), tranches and steaks can all be poached this way. The sauce is more often made separately than from the liquid.
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• Shallow poaching. This mixes poaching with steaming. A fillet, tranche or steak sits on a bed of aromatic vegetables, in liquid that comes about halfway up its sides. This liquid is called the cuisson. Bring it to a simmer, cover the pan with buttered parchment or a lid, and finish on the stove or in the oven. The sauce is made from the reduced cuisson. If the fish is lightly sautéed before the liquid goes in, the method is really braising. see chapter 10: What braising is
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Temperature. Poach fish at 175°F to 185°F (79°C to 85°C). Start a whole fish in cold liquid and heat it slowly, which keeps it looking good. Start portions in liquid that is already simmering, which keeps their flavor and makes the cooking time easier to judge. Lower the fish in on a rack, and keep it fully under.

Seasoning. Poached fish gets all of its flavor from the liquid and the sauce, so the liquid must be good: a well-made court bouillon, fumet or stock, with shallot, onion or carrot and plenty of herbs and spices. If wine goes in, use a good one, since a poor wine can spoil a delicate fish. Lemon juice or zest suits the liquid, the sauce or the finished plate.

Serving. Fish poached by submersion goes with rich sauces, hollandaise or beurre blanc, or with a vegetable coulis for less fat. Cold poached fish takes a mayonnaise sauce such as sauce verte or remoulade. To serve it cold, cover it so it does not dry out, let it cool, and refrigerate it. Hot or cold, rice, pasta and steamed or boiled vegetables suit it.

Cooked food must drop from 60°C to 20°C within two hours, then from 20°C to 4°C within the next four hours.

Poached fillets with lemon-parsley butter show shallow poaching at small scale:

• Soften onion and celery in oil.
• Lay the fillets on top, and add water, lemon juice, salt, bay leaf and parsley.
• Cover the pan and simmer for about 8 minutes, without turning the fish, until it is opaque and flakes.
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• Move the fish with a wide spatula and serve it with lemon-parsley butter.

Simmering shellfish

"Boiled" lobster, crab and shrimp are not really boiled. They are simmered, whole and in the shell. They are sturdier than fish, but they still toughen and overcook if the liquid boils hard. Their hard shells shield the delicate meat as they cook.

Seasoning. Do not season the shellfish itself before cooking. Flavor the liquid instead: salted water or court bouillon, sometimes with a bottled seafood seasoning or a sachet of pickling spice.

Method. Adding food cools the water, and a large volume of water comes back to the boil faster, so use as much as you can.

• Bring the liquid to a boil.
• Add the shellfish, let the liquid come back to the boil, then lower it to a simmer.
• Cook until done.
• Serve at once, or plunge the shellfish into ice water if they will be eaten cold.
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Timing. For simmered shellfish, the clock is the best test. Times depend on size and on how fast the water returns to a simmer.

Simmering times for shellfish. The lobster-tail times are for a tail simmered in salted water, 1 teaspoon of salt to each quart.

Serve hot simmered shellfish with lemon wedges and melted butter, and cold ones with a tomato cocktail sauce. Corn on the cob and boiled potatoes are the usual sides.

Shellfish cooked in a sauce or soup need the same care. For an oyster stew, warm the oysters in butter over low heat only until their edges curl. For creole shrimp, add the peeled shrimp to the finished sauce for just 5 more minutes. For a clam chowder, boil fresh clams only until the shells pop open.

How to tell good from overcooked

Cooked fish should separate easily into flakes. Past that point it shrinks and turns tough and dry. Overcooked shellfish turns tough too.

12.6 Sushi

What sushi is

Sushi is vinegared rice, usually topped or filled with other foods: fish, raw or cooked, and vegetables. Outside Japan, people often think sushi means raw fish. It does not. In Japan, sliced raw fish served alone is sashimi, a separate dish; sushi must have rice. The word comes from an old grammatical form that is no longer used, and its literal meaning is "it's sour".

Most sushi uses nori, sheets of seaweed, and is filled or topped with seafood, chicken or vegetables. The cook makes or cuts each piece to a size that can be eaten by hand in one or two bites. It is usually served cool, with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi.

Where it came from

Sushi began, centuries ago, as a way to keep fish. The fish was packed between wads of rice and left to ferment, which preserved it but took months. Some time in the 14th to 16th centuries, cooks added rice vinegar to speed this up, and people began to eat the rice with the fish. Nori was added at about the same time to keep fingers clean, which gave the first rolled sushi.

In the middle or late 18th century, a restaurant in Edo (now Tokyo) began pressing thin slices of fresh fish onto sushi rice. That was the start of Edo-Mae sushi, or nigirizushi. Later, a chef left the rice out altogether, and sashimi was born. Wasabi and pickled ginger probably arrived with Edo-Mae sushi, when the point became tasting very fresh fish.

Kinds of sushi

• Makizushi (maki, rolled sushi): rice and fillings laid on nori, rolled up into a tube, then sliced thickly. It is the kind North Americans know best, and it is easy to make in quantity.
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• Nigirizushi (nigiri, hand-formed sushi): a small bed of rice shaped by hand with one topping, such as tuna, salmon, eel or egg. Gunkanmaki (battleship sushi) is an oval of rice wrapped in a band of nori and topped with something loose, such as fish eggs.
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• Oshizushi (pressed sushi): the topping goes into a wooden mold called an oshibako, the rice goes on top, the lid presses them together, and the block is cut into pieces.
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• Inarizushi (stuffed sushi): a pouch, made of tofu, bean curd, egg or cabbage leaf, holding rice and fillings.
• Chirashizushi (scattered sushi): rice in a box or bowl with seafood such as octopus, squid and tuna, cucumber and green onion laid over it. Tokyo and Osaka each have their own style.
• Saikuzushi: decorative sushi in which colored rice is sliced to show a picture. It is hard to make and costly to buy.
• Temakizushi: rice and seafood such as crab, octopus, tuna or shrimp rolled up in seaweed. It is very common, even in Japanese convenience stores.
• Sashimi: thin slices of raw seafood, mostly fish, with no rice, often cut and arranged into shapes such as flowers. It is not truly sushi, but it is served alongside it.
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The seafood used most often is tuna, salmon, squid and octopus.

Sushi rice

Sushi rice, called shari or sushi meshi in Japanese, is short-grain rice dressed with a seasoned vinegar called sushisu, then cooled and dried a little so it shines and is easy to shape.

Sushi rice and its dressing.

• Half an hour ahead, fill the hangiri with water and leave it. A hangiri is a wide, flat-bottomed wooden tub, traditionally of cypress bound with copper bands; wet wood keeps the rice from sticking.
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• Make the sushisu: warm the vinegar, sugar and salt in a saucepan until they dissolve, without boiling, then let it cool.
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• Rinse the rice: swirl it in cold water, pour off the cloudy water, and repeat until the water stays clear. Let the rice stand for 30 minutes.
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• Put the rice, water, kombu and sake (if using) in the pot and bring it to a boil. Lift out the kombu just as the water boils, and turn the heat down.
• Simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the lid on for 10 more minutes without looking. A rice cooker does the same job well.
• While the rice is hot, move it to the hangiri (or a large bowl or tray) and add the dressing at room temperature. Work it in with a cutting motion of the rice paddle, like folding egg whites, so the grains do not break. The rice turns glossy.
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• Cover it with a cloth for a few minutes to let the dressing soak in. Then fan the rice while you keep cutting it, until it cools to body temperature. Some chefs skip the fan and let the rice rest for 15 minutes at a time, re-cutting between rests, until it is cool.
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The paddle is a shamoji, a wide flat spoon of bamboo, wood or plastic. Dip it in water often so rice does not stick. Metal is rarely used, because it cuts the grains and scratches the tub.

Cooked rice is a potentially hazardous food, and the danger zone runs from 4°C to 60°C (40°F to 140°F). see chapter 2: Potentially hazardous foods

Rolling maki

To roll maki, you need:

• freshly made sushi rice;
• sheets of nori;
• fillings, such as raw or smoked salmon, tuna, cucumber or avocado;
• wasabi;
• water;
• a makisu, a rolling mat of bamboo sticks tied with string.

For a roll with the rice outside, you also need plastic wrap and, if you like, sesame seeds.

• Set the mat on a cutting board. For an inside-out roll, wrap the mat in two layers of plastic wrap, which keeps the rice off the mat and keeps it clean. Lay a sheet of nori on it, shiny side down.
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• Wet your hands so the rice does not cling, but not too much. Spread a handful of rice over the nori, leaving a 2 centimeter strip bare along one edge. About 6 mm of rice is right: if you cannot see the nori through it, there is too much.
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• For an inside-out roll, flip the sheet so the rice faces the mat.
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• Lay the fillings in a line across the middle. Roll the mat away from you, steadying it with thumbs and the heels of your hands, and tuck the filling under as you reach it.
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• At the end, press the roll gently in the mat to firm it. Do not squeeze the sides hard or flatten the top.
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• Wet the knife before every cut. Cut from the middle outward, into 5, 6 or 8 pieces, so any filling that shifts ends up in the two end pieces. For 6 or 8, halve the roll, set one half behind the other, and cut both together.
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Some common rolls:

• California roll: avocado, crab or imitation crab, and cucumber.
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• Tuna roll: tuna with rice and seaweed; the same plan works for any fish. A spicy tuna roll adds a sauce of Japanese mayonnaise and sriracha.
• Philadelphia roll: raw or smoked salmon with cream cheese.
• Cucumber roll, which is vegan, and egg roll, which is vegetarian.

Raw fish and safety

Fish served raw can carry parasites. Fish meant to be eaten raw, as in sushi and sashimi, must first be frozen to kill them: at −20°C (−4°F) for 7 days, or at −35°C (−31°F) in a blast freezer for 15 hours.

Serving and eating sushi

A full sushi meal can bring miso soup, maki, sashimi and nigiri, with wasabi, soy sauce and pickled ginger. Green tea, beer or water go with it. Sake is thought to add too much rice to a rice meal. Diners move from one item to the next rather than lingering on one, often starting mild, with tamago (a sweet, cold omelette on rice), and ending with something stronger, such as a dark fish. A slice of ginger between pieces clears the palate.

Nigiri can be eaten by hand, because its loosely packed rice may fall apart in chopsticks. Maki can be eaten by hand too. Japanese sushi chefs put a little wasabi on the right pieces as they make them, but not on pieces served with their own sauce.

The usual condiments are:

• Wasabi, a green root in the cabbage family that grows by mountain streams in Japan. It is ground into a fiery paste whose heat rises into the nose, unlike chili heat on the tongue. The plant is hard to grow, so most wasabi sold outside Japan is European horseradish dyed green.
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• Gari, pickled ginger.
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• Soy sauce (shoyu).
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• Kabayaki sauce (eel sauce), served on some sushi and sometimes used for dipping.
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Nori is made from red seaweed of the genus Porphyra, shredded and dried on racks in a process much like papermaking. It wraps maki and onigiri. Darker, costlier nori tastes better and breaks less when rolled; cheap nori is greenish.